Photo by Natasha Yee
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Last fall, crews with the Florida Department of Transportation ripped up Miami Beach’s festive rainbow Pride crosswalk after the state ordered the removal of street art “associated with social, political, or ideological messaging.”
But no one ever said anything about bike racks.
Miami Beach commissioners will today consider replacing the lost crosswalk at 12th St. and Ocean Dr. — an Art Deco-inspired, brick design meant to honor the LGBTQ community — with rainbow-colored bike racks. Officials were inspired by another Florida city, St. Petersburg, which responded to the removal of its Pride crosswalks by installing 11 Pride-themed bike racks. Miami Beach’s bike racks would be placed in up to three locations throughout the city as part of a pilot program, according to a memorandum included in agenda materials for today’s commission meeting, and cost an estimated $2,250 to $2,700.
“The proposed rainbow-color bicycle rack installation pilot program would provide a visible, functional, and legally compliant way for the City to honor and reaffirm its longstanding support for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly in the vicinity of the former Leonard Horowitz-inspired rainbow crosswalk in Lummus Park,” the memo says, referring to the designer who helped bring color and new life to South Beach’s Art Deco buildings.
The crosswalk was on a long list of casualties of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war against “dangerously distracting” street pride displays. A sworn enemy of “woke” ideology, DeSantis signed a bill in June requiring the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to remove any noncompliant street or sidewalk art. Although the state claimed safety was at issue, the move was widely seen as targeting crosswalks that celebrated LGBTQ pride. Pride crosswalks in the South Florida locales Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach also fell to FDOT crews.
Miami Beach officials had fought the state’s order in an appeal backed by Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale, but lost in October. Soon after, the state arrived and tore out the crosswalk, digging it out brick by brick and leaving black asphalt in its place.
The rainbow bike rack measure was reviewed by Miami Beach’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee during a February meeting, and members recommended that the city adopt a resolution in support of it. The committee also recommended two other ideas to the city commission: installing a commemorative plaque documenting the crosswalk and naming 12th St. from Washington Ave. to Ocean Dr. as “Pride Street.”
Staff with the city’s Transportation and Mobility Department recommend Lummus Park as the main South Beach location for the bike racks, “given the symbolic importance” of the destroyed rainbow crosswalk. Others could be placed in Pride Park or Bayshore Park in Mid-Beach, and the bandshell area of North Beach Oceanside Park in North Beach.
The plaque would accompany a replica of the crosswalk the city plans to install in Lummus Park. The committee memorandum says it “should document the history of how, notwithstanding the fact that the crosswalk was among the safest on Ocean Drive, the State of Florida ordered its removal citing safety concerns — a decision widely perceived as an attack on the LGBTQ community.”
“The plaque,” the memorandum continues, “would serve as a respectful and informative companion to the existing commemorative marker, preserving the memory of the crosswalk and the values it represented, and further serving as a reminder that while we have advanced in securing LGBTQ rights, those rights remain under constant attack and should not be taken for granted.”
Meanwhile, naming a portion of 12th St. “Pride Street” would require amendments to city code, followed by approval from the Miami-Dade County Commission.
